November 27, 2012

The Era of Urban Diplomacy

The facts are clear to the vast majority. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and, by 2050, this might grow to as much as two-thirds of humanity. Cities are now also said to be responsible for as much as 75 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions. Urban centers indisputably constitute the hinges of the global economy, global information flows, and worldwide mobility of goods and people. These factors have become well-established knowledge in the wider public as much as in academia: With little doubt, we can now comfortably argue that cities and urban issues are extensively overlapping with some of the key areas of concern for international affairs.

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